Happy New Year.......

Cedric stood looking at his latest haul after the pianos and the Geek had vanished into the twilight.

If the last cheque had bounced, the next one most certainly would as well. Who had ready cash in the village to whom he could give some plausible explanation as to why he needed to borrow some? Oriel - if his sister was living there surely he might be capable of a "loan"? Or those saucy girls - they always seemed to have wads of the readies with them. What to do? He would have to mark up these pieces to exorbitantly high prices to get his business on an even keel again. And fast!

It wasn't the recently sold one, Valerie. This came with the rather rare Jacobean bed, dressing table, washstand and wardrobe some years ago. I think Cedric has snitched this load from Bill Barton's residence at no 12. I'm sure that the cheque will bounce and the furniture can be replaced before anyone noticed that The Geek seemed to have "borrowed" it!